Apply to Fewer Jobs and Drill Deeper

“I’ve applied to over 500 jobs in the last 8 months,” she shared. “I’ve kept track of everything when I apply to jobs. Fewer than 10% even acknowledged my application. This is crazy.”

Her company reorganized earlier in the year. She was one of the executives who was downsized. The frustration just poured out in our initial call.

“Here’s what I’m going to ask you to do,” I said. “You will apply to about a tenth of that number of jobs over the next few months. But, instead of just sending in an application and waiting for someone to contact you, we’re going to put together an attack plan for that opportunity.”

“OK,” she said cautiously. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re going to be more selective about which jobs you go after but you’re going to pour a lot more time, resources and effort into breaking through,” I outlined. “We’re going to find key people on the inside. Find their contact information. Craft verbiage on how to reach out to them. Our mission is to increase your odds 10X of landing the first interview.”

She liked what she heard and followed the plan over the next few months. Good interviews materialized because she talked to people on the inside, not just an unidentified computer.